Larry Ellison collects lavish real estate

Updated 3:55 pm, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Hulopoe Beach near the Four Seasons Manele Bay resort is on Lanai, Ellison's most recent purchase.

Hulopoe Beach near the Four Seasons Manele Bay resort is on Lanai, Ellison's most recent purchase.

Photo: Gary A. Warner, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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Photo: Lea Suzuki, SFC

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FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2008 file photo courtesy of the The Lanai Times, a brush fire burns on the island of Lanai, Hawaii. Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison has reached a deal to buy 98 percent of the island of Lanai from its current owner, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Wednesday, June 20, 2012. (AP Photo/The Lanai Times, Sharon Owens, File) less

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2008 file photo courtesy of the The Lanai Times, a brush fire burns on the island of Lanai, Hawaii. Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison has reached a deal to buy 98 percent of the island of ... more

Beechwood Mansion, designed by Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux, is in Newport, R.I.

Beechwood Mansion, designed by Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux, is in Newport, R.I.

Photo: Flickr, Wally Gobetz

Larry Ellison collects lavish real estate

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The siren song that enticed Oracle founder Larry Ellison to buy his own special island last week has driven the maverick mogul to amass a portfolio of lavish estates in recent years.

Even before the world's sixth-richest man bought 98 percent of Hawaii's sixth-largest island, his real estate spending sprees ranged from Woodside to Pacific Heights, from Newport, R.I., to Kyoto, Japan, from the California coast to the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Lanai, a 141-square-mile tropical paradise with two hotels and two golf courses, joins a collection of extravagant holdings that feature stunning natural beauty and sumptuous accommodations.

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Ellison's string of real estate purchases "strike me as great adventures for him," said Mike Wilson, author of "The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison (God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison)." "Larry is enjoying his wealth now more than he ever has - and he's always enjoyed it."

What might Ellison, a man whose net worth is estimated to be $36 billion, do on Lanai?

"I can't wait to see," Wilson said. "He's a man of such big passions. It could be the world's largest butterfly sanctuary or the coolest Go-Kart track ever. But I think he has something planned for Lanai that goes beyond it being a personal playground for him, some larger purpose, whether it's creating a sanctuary, research institute, business entity or something else. I don't think Larry needs 88,000 acres to satisfy even his need for recreation."

Ellison considers Lanai, home to 3,200 residents, as "much more than an asset," Hawaii state Sen. J. Kalani English told the Associated Press after getting a call from Ellison's representatives on Thursday. He said they expressed sensitivity to the "culture and conservation stewardship of the island," promised to honor union contracts and assured him that Ellison doesn't plan to build a wind farm, a controversial project promoted by the previous owner.

Some in Hawaii speculate that Ellison, who has a pilot's license, will extend Lanai's airport runway to accommodate private jets with enough fuel for the long haul back to the mainland.

Extending Lanai's runway would encourage more high-end tourism, he said. "If you're a billionaire, do you really want to spend an extra hour refueling?"

Lanai's asking price was pegged between $500 million and $600 million. For a man of Ellison's means, the purchase was roughly the equivalent of a family with $1 million net worth buying a used Chevy Impala, according to Forbes' calculations.

Here's a rundown on Ellison's empire:

Woodside

-- 23-acre estate: Property purchased in 1995 for $12 million; palatial home modeled on a 16th century Japanese imperial palace; built over nine years, completed in 2004 for a reported $200 million.

Despite his vast resources, Ellison can be thrifty when it comes to real estate. In 2008, he successfully petitioned to reduce the tax assessment of this compound, saying it had become "functionally obsolete" and suffered from "over improvements." San Mateo County agreed that the estate was worth $100 million less, lopping $3 million off Ellison's tax bill over three years.

-- Equestrian estate: $23 million, 2005.

Ellison offered this property for sale at $19 million last year but hasn't found a buyer.

San Francisco

-- 2850 Broadway: $3.9 million, 1998.

This contemporary five-bedroom, four-level Pacific Heights mansion, more than 10,000 square feet, is primarily used for entertaining. It should provide a panoramic vantage point for the America's Cup yacht race (Ellison and Oracle sponsor America's team) - especially since Ellison settled his lawsuit with the neighbors about their redwoods blocking his sweeping bay views.

Lake Tahoe

Ellison has been on a buying binge on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, creating three noncontiguous lakefront parcels through eight separate deals, according to the Wall Street Journal. While the properties came with homes and amenities such as tennis courts, on one he is building a sprawling rustic compound that includes a beach house, writer's cabin, lakeside gazebo with stone fireplace, pool, and pond with an island.

"He has put a ton of people to work on that property," said Shahri Masters of Lakeshore Realty in Incline Village. "It blends in well with the environment - it's not a 'monument to me' house. He has some pretty green things going on; there is a sod roof on one of the outbuildings."

Many wealthy individuals use the town as their primary residence to take advantage of Nevada's lack of personal income tax. "Incline is one of those places where you could be a rock star or a bazillionaire and no one really cares," she said. "People don't make a big fuss, which is something he may appreciate."

"It was a fabulous Spanish Mediterranean with beautiful stonework, and most important, the patios were level with the sand," she said. Ellison paid slightly less than the $15 million asking price in cash, she said. "He asked if the house next door, a little cottage, was for sale. I said the lady will never sell it. He said, 'Well, I need that property.' Of course, he bought it too. Then he started buying other properties (on Carbon Beach) and the rest is history."

Ellison also bought the 22-acre Malibu property in the gated Serra Retreat area featured in reality show "The Princes of Malibu" for $20 million in 2005.

Rancho Mirage

-- Porcupine Creek estate: $43 million in 2011.

Despite being a renowned sportsman, Ellison does not play golf. Nevertheless, this desert oasis - a 246-acre estate with an 18,430-square-foot home - has its own 18-hole golf course, which Golf Digest rated the 13th best in California. The previous owner "left the compound a jumbled, over-decorated mess," according to Forbes, which said Ellison hired his own decorator to redo the place. Ellison also shelled out $100 million for the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, held nearby at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Newport, R.I.

-- Beechwood Mansion: $10.5 million in 2010.

The 39-room Italianate waterfront home, the Astor family's summer residence, was built in 1852. Cole Porter wrote "Night and Day" there, and the house appeared in the movie "High Society," with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, according to its marketing materials. The Gilded Age estate was previously open to the public as a living-history museum.

Kyoto, Japan

-- Garden property: $86 million

"Larry is a Japan-ophile; he loves the Japanese culture and their ideals, not that he necessarily lives them, but he sure likes the idea of harmony in all things," said Wilson. "I notice that Lanai is halfway to his beloved Asia."

The Wall Street Journal said that Ellison's Kyoto property includes a home and pavilion near Lake Biwa.

Ellison's stable of properties may reflect how he wants to be remembered.

"In the first 20 or 25 years he was in business, his focus was on creating Oracle and changing the world of database software," Wilson said. "Now in his later years, I see him focusing more on a creating a legacy through giving and enjoying what he's built."

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